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women who look down on the spectacle beneath. It is a feast of thanksgiving to Dagon,
of triumph to Philistia, of triumph against Jehovah and His people, and over captive
Samson. The image of Dagon - the body of a fish with the head and hands of a man -
which less than twenty years before had fallen and been broken before the ark of
Jehovah (1 Samuel 5:4), stands once more proudly defying the God of Israel. And now
the mirth and revelry have reached their highest point: Samson is brought in, and placed
in the middle of the temple, between the central pillars which uphold the immense roof
and the building itself. A few words whispered to his faithful Hebrew servant, and
Samson's arms encircle the massive pillars. And then an unuttered agonizing cry of
repentance, of faith from the Nazarite, once more such, who will not only subordinate
self to the nation and to his calling, but surrender life itself! Blind Samson is groping
for a new light - and the brightness of another morning is already gilding his horizon.
With all his might he bows himself. The pillars reel and give way. With one terrible
crash fall roof and gallery, temple and image of Dagon; and in the ruins perish with
Samson the lords of the Philistines and the flower of the people.
It has been told in Zorah. Gaza and Philistia are hushed in awe and mourning. Samson's
brethren and his father's house come down. From the ruins they search out the mangled
body of the Nazarite. No one cares to interfere with them. Unmolested they bear away
the remains, and lay them to rest in the burying-place of Manoah his father.
And so ends the period of the judges. Samson could have had no successor - he closed
an epoch. But already at Shiloh a different reformation was preparing; and with
different weapons will repentant Israel, under Samuel, fight against the Philistines, and
conquer!
(^)